Jacob Ricci
Dr. Foggleman
EDC 102H
12 September 2011 My Expertise: Campfires
While I prefer to consider myself a "Jack-of-All-Trades, Master-of-None," there is one area that I do consider myself a bit of an expert in, and that is outdoor skills. While I am not a true expert, I do know my fair share of practical knowledge in regards to outdoor skills. This expertise comes from being an Eagle Scout combines with the love I have for being outdoors, away from people and generalized civilization. Among the skills of an outdoorsman, I would say that building fires is what i am best at.
To me, building a fire is as much an art as it is a traditional camping activity or survival necessity. There are many types of fires, and many purposes for fires,therefore using the correct form of fire at the correct time is important. I have developed this ability and knowledge over years of camping trips and trial and error.
While I was exposed to campfires at an early age, in cub scouting with my older brother, it was not until I was in fifth grade that I constructed and lit my first fire completely on my own. The camp out will last in my memory as my first fire. The style was simple, but of my own design and a design that I still utilize and teach to this day. I combined a log cabin style fire with a teepee style fire, constructing the teepee inside the log cabin and using it to light the log cabin. Typically, the log cabin style fire is used for cooking, as it will produce a nice set of coals, while the Teepee is used to provide light and warmth. By combining they two, I achieved a balance between the necessities for cooking and the need for light. The construction of the fire took significantly longer then compared to how long it takes now, but the result was quite nice. I had a fire which lasted well into the evening, and was praised by both experienced and new scouts alike. This experience solidified my appreciation for fire and cultured something that would grow into my desire to become the best at fire building.
Over time, my reputation as a master firebuilder grew. Within a few years, I was one of the go-to people in my scout troop for fire construction, and eventually fire instruction. At scouting events, I was the person who participated in and often did quite well in fire building challenges. As my reputation grew, I worked to expand my skills, sometimes on purpose and sometimes by sheer coincidence.
My scout troop has a saying, ‘it aint camping if it aint raining’ which grew out of the seemingly constant occurrence of rain on campouts.This tendency toward rain led me to learn to build fires in the rain and in post rain conditions. Among the skills I learned in building fires in the rain was the ability to read wood. As strange as that sounds, the origins are simple. The center of wood often remains dry during/after it rains, while the outside will be wet. By splitting the wood, you can get access to the dry wood and thus create a nice fire, which you can then use to dry more wood. The problem is, not every piece of wood will be dry on the inside, and not every piece of wood will split nicely. I developed the ability to differentiate good wood from bad, and to split wood so that it will work for the purpose I have in mind. Also, I can see pieces of wood and recognize an application for the piece within my fire. Some pieces are to be used early, some for later, being able to tell when to use them and how is part of ‘reading the wood.’
As time passed, and I became an older scout in my troop, my reputation grew to proportions far beyond what is physically possible. This was mainly due to a few specific scouts who seemed to idolize me. They began to refer to me as, ‘the fire god’ and made such claims as my being able to light fire underwater. It was at this point where I realized that I truly could consider myself a bit of an expert in the field of campfires. I have since developed my skills further and attempted to pass them on the a new generation of scouts. Camp fires will always be a specialty of mine, and i look forward to many more camping trips and the accompanying campfires.
Dr. Foggleman
EDC 102H
12 September 2011
My Expertise: Campfires
While I prefer to consider myself a "Jack-of-All-Trades, Master-of-None," there is one area that I do consider myself a bit of an expert in, and that is outdoor skills. While I am not a true expert, I do know my fair share of practical knowledge in regards to outdoor skills. This expertise comes from being an Eagle Scout combines with the love I have for being outdoors, away from people and generalized civilization. Among the skills of an outdoorsman, I would say that building fires is what i am best at.
To me, building a fire is as much an art as it is a traditional camping activity or survival necessity. There are many types of fires, and many purposes for fires,therefore using the correct form of fire at the correct time is important. I have developed this ability and knowledge over years of camping trips and trial and error.
While I was exposed to campfires at an early age, in cub scouting with my older brother, it was not until I was in fifth grade that I constructed and lit my first fire completely on my own. The camp out will last in my memory as my first fire. The style was simple, but of my own design and a design that I still utilize and teach to this day. I combined a log cabin style fire with a teepee style fire, constructing the teepee inside the log cabin and using it to light the log cabin. Typically, the log cabin style fire is used for cooking, as it will produce a nice set of coals, while the Teepee is used to provide light and warmth. By combining they two, I achieved a balance between the necessities for cooking and the need for light. The construction of the fire took significantly longer then compared to how long it takes now, but the result was quite nice. I had a fire which lasted well into the evening, and was praised by both experienced and new scouts alike. This experience solidified my appreciation for fire and cultured something that would grow into my desire to become the best at fire building.
Over time, my reputation as a master firebuilder grew. Within a few years, I was one of the go-to people in my scout troop for fire construction, and eventually fire instruction. At scouting events, I was the person who participated in and often did quite well in fire building challenges. As my reputation grew, I worked to expand my skills, sometimes on purpose and sometimes by sheer coincidence.
My scout troop has a saying, ‘it aint camping if it aint raining’ which grew out of the seemingly constant occurrence of rain on campouts.This tendency toward rain led me to learn to build fires in the rain and in post rain conditions. Among the skills I learned in building fires in the rain was the ability to read wood. As strange as that sounds, the origins are simple. The center of wood often remains dry during/after it rains, while the outside will be wet. By splitting the wood, you can get access to the dry wood and thus create a nice fire, which you can then use to dry more wood. The problem is, not every piece of wood will be dry on the inside, and not every piece of wood will split nicely. I developed the ability to differentiate good wood from bad, and to split wood so that it will work for the purpose I have in mind. Also, I can see pieces of wood and recognize an application for the piece within my fire. Some pieces are to be used early, some for later, being able to tell when to use them and how is part of ‘reading the wood.’
As time passed, and I became an older scout in my troop, my reputation grew to proportions far beyond what is physically possible. This was mainly due to a few specific scouts who seemed to idolize me. They began to refer to me as, ‘the fire god’ and made such claims as my being able to light fire underwater. It was at this point where I realized that I truly could consider myself a bit of an expert in the field of campfires. I have since developed my skills further and attempted to pass them on the a new generation of scouts. Camp fires will always be a specialty of mine, and i look forward to many more camping trips and the accompanying campfires.